Chapter Text
all happens within the blink of an eye. One moment Emma is sitting at the counter in Granny's with Killian and the woman they had just saved from the Evil Queen, and the next she is watching Regina's heart get crushed into a million pieces. "The Evil Queen!" Marion says, standing up straight and moving forward. Emma steps in front of her, blocking her from getting any closer.
"It's okay. She's different now," Emma tells her, placing her hand out. "She's not the same person anymore, you'll see. I-I'll- just stay here," she says, walking over to where Regina was now standing in the middle of the diner.
"Regina," she says, causing the older woman to turn her attention towards her. "There's something you should know," she continues. "I brought someone back from the past," she tells her, and the look Regina gives her tells her that it was probably a huge mistake doing so, but she had to save her. "this woman, and she still thinks of you as-"
"Evil," Regina finally manages to say.
"I'm going to bring her over, I already told her it's okay, but it's a little delicate and I feel like she met you, she'll see-" Regina cuts her off again.
"I understand," she says, smiling at Emma in a way she never would have more than a year ago. Emma smiles back before turning back to where Killian and Marion are waiting for her. Marion meets Emma halfway, allowing the blonde to place a hand on her shoulder as she guides her over to the Evil Queen, who apparently wasn't evil anymore.
"Regina I would like you to meet-"
"Marion?" another voice calls, and it takes a second for them to realise that it is Robin. "Marion!" he says once more as the three women look at him. He stands from the booth he had just secured, unable to move much further.
"Robin," she says almost breathlessly. Regina's eyes become glassy and the smile she once wore was now gone.
"I thought you were dead," Robin says, stepping forward until he is close enough to Marion. "I thought I'd never see you again," he tells her, wrapping his arms around her.
"And I you," she sobs. Each passing second was like torture for Regina. Emma could see it, she could feel it. Her eyes travel between the two sadly, not quite sure what to do.
"Mama?" Roland says, walking up to his father and the woman, no, his mother. Marion pulls away from Robin, her eyes landing on the boy she had thought she would never see grow.
"Roland?" she says, crouching down to his level. "Oh, my baby," she says, pulling him into her arms. It takes ounce of restraint in Regina not to cry. How did she let this happen? "Roland," Marion cries again, and Robin kisses her head, pulling them close. Regina can't watch anymore. She looks over at Emma slowly, anger, and hatred rising as she sees the blonde.
"You," she says, her voice barely above a whisper. "You did this," she states. Emma can see the tears pooling in her eyes, and she wants nothing more than to hold the woman.
"I just wanted to save her life," Emma says, her eyes moving along Regina's face, and over to the woman who was currently holding Regina's soulmate.
"You're just like your mother," Regina says bitterly, shaking her head in disbelief. "Never thinking of consequences," she says, her voice rising a little.
"I didn't know," Emma tries to defend.
"No, of course you didn't," Regina says. She stares at the younger woman, a million different things running through her head. "You better hope you didn't bring anything else back," she says, her eyes not leaving Emma's for the longest time. She turns away from her and makes her way to the exit, not bothering to stop when her name is called by multiple people. She hears the door close behind her as she makes her way down the steps, and about halfway down the patio. She puts both of her hands on her head, pushing her hair out of her face as a deep sigh is released from within her chest. She blinks rapidly, praying for the tears to go away, and pulls her hands away from her head. The door opens, and there are footsteps getting louder, meaning that whoever just opened the door is walking over to her.
"Regina," Emma's voice disrupts the silence.
"Not now, Swan," Regina says. She is already tired and she hasn't even begun.
"I'm sorry," Emma says. "When I brought Marion back, I didn't know who she was," she adds. "I didn't intend to cause you pain." Regina finally turns and faces Emma.
"Well, your intentions really don't matter," she says, tears brewing once again. "Because once again I felt the brunt of heroism. Always a villain" she scoffs. "Even when I'm not."
"What was I supposed to do?" Emma asks, her tone cold, but not as cold as Regina's.
"You were dumb enough to travel through time. Maybe you should've left things well enough alone," Regina suggests.
"I'm not going to apologise for saving someones life," Emma says.
"She was going to die anyway, what did it matter?" she asks.
"It mattered because she was a person," Emma argues. "And whatever she did, she didn't deserve to die," she adds.
"Well maybe she did," Regina tries to justify. They both know it's wrong, but she's already said it.
"Well you would know, I saved her from you," Emma says. Regina's eyes widen and she takes a step back.
"The woman who did that," she pauses. "That was the person I was, not the person I am," she says. "I've worked very hard to build a future. A future thats now gone," she states, throwing her hands up.
"You don't know that," Emma says maybe a little too hopeful for Regina's liking.
"I know that it's complicated enough now that his dead wife is back," she snaps.
"Regina, for that I am sorry. If there is anything I can do to help-"
"Miss Swan," she starts, a sad chuckle making its way past her lips. "The more you try to help, the worse my life becomes," she says, her tone cold. The door opens again, and this time it's Robin.
"Marion, please meet her. She's not at all what you think," he tells her, dragging her and their son out of the diner. Regina turns her attention to them, feeling the need to flee even more. "Regina, I-I want you to meet Marion," he says, walking up to her first, then motioning for Marion to do the same all while Emma walks away to give them a moment. "I want us to talk about this," he says, placing a hand on Regina's arm and reaching out for his formerly dead wife.
"Wait were you two- Are you two together?" Marion asks, her voice rising.
"Marion, please," he begs.
"You and the Evil Queen," she states, looking between the two of them. "Did you let her near my son? Do you know what she's done? The terror that she's inflicted?" she asks over and over again as the door opens once again.
"Is everything okay?" Snow asks, clutching baby Neal in her arms.
"Nobody has been incinerated yet, so that's a good sign," David says, walking beside his wife. Marion and Robin now turn to look at them.
"Regina? You alright?" Snow asks.
"What is- What is wrong with you people?" Marion asks. "Why are you talking to her? Don't you know who she is?" she asks.
"Mom, what's going on?" Henry asks, confused by everything that's currently happening.
"She's a monster!" Marion says, pointing at Regina. Regina raises her hand, before clenching into fist and brings it to her chest.
"No, she's-" Regina slings her bag over her shoulder and turns, walking away from them all. "Regina!" Emma calls, attempting to go after her, but Hook stops her.
"No good has ever come of pushing that woman," Hook says. "Give her space."
"It's what she does in that space that I am worried about," David says, stepping forward.
"You don't think she will become evil again, do you?" Henry asks, looking at Emma. "She can't, she's come too far," he says. He wants to run after her and beg her not to become evil.
"I hope you're right, kid," Emma says, pulling him into her arms. She doesn't believe Regina will become evil again, but she also didn't think that saving someone from the past would cause any issues either, but here they are. She keeps her eyes on Regina's retreating form until she completely disappears down Main street.
***
When Regina arrives at her mansion, she seals the house so that nobody but herself can get inside. She almost doesn't go through with the spell, but she needs to be alone. She kicks off her heels, leaving them in the middle of her floor, very un-queenly, and makes her way to her study. She doesn't bother closing the door behind her because there is nobody here anyway. She walks right over to the fire place, picking of the decanter of cider and pours herself a heavy glass, and she doesn't care about the headache she is bound to have whenever she wakes up. She sets the decanter down roughly and picks up her glass, taking a fairly large sip.
The cider burns just right as it slides down her throat. God she had been so stupid to believe that she could ever have a happy ending. She was a villain after all, and they never got their happy endings. Regina pushes herself off the fireplace, waving her hand to light it and walks over to the couch. To think that last night her and Robin spent the whole evening talking and getting to know each other further and now they were-
What were they now? Surely with his wife back from the dead they couldn't be anything. She wouldn't do that to them. Roland needs his mother, and now he has her. She feels her phone buzzing in her pocket, most likely Emma trying to apologise. That's how Emma rolls. She fucks up, and then she apologises more times than should be humanly possible and tries to make you see how sorry she was. It wouldn't work this time. It wasn't like when she accidentally broke a vial while in your vault. It couldn't be fixed.
Eventually the phone stops buzzing, and Regina releases a sigh of relief. It doesn't last much longer because her phone starts to ring again. Rolling her eyes, she plucks her phone from her pocket. It was Emma. She had called at least ten times, and there were even a few from Henry and Robin. There were also a few text messages, but she couldn't look at them. She downs the rest of her cider, hoping that it will make her feel something, anything other than rage, but the more she drinks, the angrier she feels. She releases a deep sigh, and then chucks the tumbler at the fireplace, not even flinching as the glass shatters into a bunch of tiny pieces. "Fuuucck!" she screams, her face growing red as she screams, sliding down onto the floor. She lands in a heap, her tears finally flowing freely, loud sobs climbing from her chest.
She stays on the floor sobbing for so long that her body begins to hurt. She doesn't know when she finally gets up, but when she does her joints hurt. She stands slowly, wincing in pain with each step she takes, slowly making her way upstairs and into her room. She closes her bedroom door as soon as she is safely inside, using her magic to change into pyjamas and the crawls straight into bed. her eyes flutter shut as soon as her head hits the pillow, and for the first time in a long time, she falls asleep alone and in a completely empty house.
***
The next morning, Regina wakes up to loud banging on her door. She wants to break the hands of whoever is being so annoying at such an ungodly hour. Don't they know she has a headache and wants to be left alone to wallow? That's when it hits her that it is probably Emma and she is very aware that Regina wants to be left alone. She grunts, regretting it immediately and throws the covers off of her body, marching down the stairs. She could rip out that idiots heart and crush it into dust, and she just might. She swings the door open, a million and one insults on her tongue, but they all die when Henry wraps his arms around her waist. "I couldn't get inside and you weren't answering your phone," Henry rushes out, the force of how tight he was holding her nearly too much. "I was so worried that something was wrong," he tells her. She wraps her arms around Henry, fully allowing herself to calm down.
"Henry what are you doing here?" she asks. It was still Emma's week. He pulls away from the hug, looking at her face. Her eyes are puffy and red, a clear sign that she had been crying. He hates seeing her in pain.
"When Emma said she couldn't get in touch of you, I got really scared that you had gone back to being-"
"Being what, Henry?" she asks, the sound of Emma's name making her cringe.
"Being the Evil Queen," he admits guiltily.
"it's going to take a lot more for me to ever go back to being her," Regina assures him. "I don't want you to worry about me," she says.
"I will always worry about you," Henry says. "You're my mom and I love you," he tells her.
"I love you too, my prince," Regina says, leaning down to place a kiss on his forehead. Henry had grown quite a bit while he was away, and she missed her sweet little boy.
"Can I stay here?" he asks.
"I don't think that's wise," she says, backing away. "I won't be able to be a very good mother to you like this, so it's best you stay with Em- your other mother while I work on my emotions," she says, and she hates herself for the disappointment that takes over his face.
"But mom," he tries to protest.
"Please," Regina pleads. "I promise I won't go evil again, but I don't think I should be around anyone for the time being. Especially not Emma," she spits out.
"She really is sorry," Henry says. Regina smiles at his attempt to be the peace maker.
"It's not enough this time," she says. They hug for a while, neither really wanting to let go. Regina places another kiss on his head, promising that she would get better and he could stay with her as soon as she was. She watches him walk down the driveway and off towards the school, and she can't help but feel sad and angry all over again. if Emma hadn't done this, she would've been happy with her soulmate and Henry wouldn't be turned away because of her fears of lashing out at him. She was going to kill Emma Swan.
Correction: she wants to kill Emma Swan.